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My Sleeping Karma - Moksha

As I’ve expressed my thoughts regarding a new MY SLEEPING KARMA album in the past via these virtual pages, I’d love to hear something more extreme and out-of-the-box from my beloved Hindu-promoters in their next enterprise. So, listening to the news regarding the new MY SLEEPING KARMA offering, I really wished that this would happen now. To my understanding (after spending some time searching in the web regarding the album title and observing for hours the amazing cover artwork which is clearly a reference to Hindu god deity Lord Ganesha, the Elephant God), it seems that the German psych Groove Rock initiates dug deeper into the Hindu tradition with their fifth full length release, titled “Moksha”, drawing inspiration from the central concept of moksha (meaning liberation, freedom, self-realization and self-knowledge), which is one of the four aspects and goals of human life (with the other three being dharma / moral life, artha / material prosperity and kama / emotional fulfilment), while all together contribute to the four aims of life.

If you have already dealt with MY SLEEPING KARMA’s hypnotic sound in the past, you (should) know what lies inside “Moksha”, so you don’t need me to talk about their superb instrumental music and the band’s dexterity on creating high-quality psych sound which btw could be considered as one of the most immediately recognizable of the underground Rock scene. But I can’t but to underline how evolved the MY SLEEPING KARMA music sounds here, even from the first tunes of “Prithvi” which lifts the curtain; this atmospheric opener may seemed it’s taken off OZRICS’ “Pungent Effulgent” (1989) but if you take a closer look (well, you get what I’m saying, right?), you’ll notice the Germans’ lethal hit which is the way they combine keys and riffs, and vice-versa. “Interlude 1” adds that mysterious Ayuverdic feeling to the overall sound, with all the tsakra-like chanting, reminding some of OM’s best moments, while “Vayu” is the palpable proof of how well-calculated is MY SLEEPING KARMA’s evolution sound-wise. The way the Germans combine spacey Rock with Post elements and multi Prog layers is just out-of-this-world. I bet you’ll feel like listening to MONSTER MAGNET-meets-TOOL, so you’d better enjoy the ride. And while all these mysterious things are happening (and then some), “Agni” comes last (but not least) and puts the last nail on the coffin, showcasing on full scale of what this band is made of; well-crafted Spacey orgy and imaginative craftsmanship in creating liquid sonic images that will travel you in galaxies beyond our solar system.

Following the “Soma” recipe structure-wise to the letter, meaning the “song / interlude / song” sequence, MY SLEEPING KARMA paints a powerful yet colorful canvas of emotions, dreams and ancient knowledge, only this time the scenery is more tight and solid than ever before, leaving behind the band’s naivety (and this is meant with good intentions, of course) and unstoppable intention for endlessly jamming, meaning that here the Germans sound like they took paper and pen in order to create their unique Sound-Universe of “Moksha”, based on mathematic formulas and absolute calculation that leaves no space for errors or misleading actions. To my world, this calculated-to-the-last-detail creation is translated into two things: a) the band stepped outside of the box (like so badly I asked on the first place), expanding their possibilities and sound-frame, offering something really unique and incomparable to any other record they have released so far, b) this evolution can cost them the spontaneity they presented in their early days where they mixed so successfully the jamming process with the Prog sound, giving birth to psych Groove Rock that now seems to have passed the scepters to the calculated space-y Prog sound, sacrificing the surprise and the whimsical feeling that was dominant in their previous works. Sure, it’s beyond comparison to listen to the sunrise-like intro of “Akasha” than any outburst of “A-Steya” and what that could be brought on the table, or the travel-esque melancholy of “Interlude 4” that beats the Spacey vagueness and the chaotic, quiet moments of “Svaatanya” that still haunt my stereo’s speakers, and there is nothing more to discuss here. But at the same time, personally speaking, I really miss the compositions’ spontaneity in past LPs, offering a refreshing aspect of how laid-back psych Spacey grooves should sound - and again, I should refer to my beloved “Satya” album (2008). I’m not saying I won’t spin the well-structured and well-dressed“Moksha” (on the sold-out gold edition) on my fancy turntable - I’ll prefer though to re-visit the band’s unripe yet beautiful older material instead.

So, is “Moksha” worth your time (and money, of course)? Sure does - there is no question about that. And for some listeners, I bet this will be the top release of the year. The music is perfect for mind-travelling, the concept is super-tight, the performance is adamant, the vinyl package is colorfully-exciting, so what’s not to love, really? However, I miss the what-is-gonna-hit-me-right-in-the-corner feeling, so this is the only reason “Moksha” gets from me a solid...